guess

seems joystick is coming back.


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is that from the Mercedes F200 concept?

right.

seems it doesn't matter if you are left or right handed. the instrument cluster simply switch side.

too scary to drive especially if you got 12 pistons pumping under the hood. it will not react to quick movement, but i will not try it.

I think we are heading to a time where electronic device gonna take over everything.....
If i'll ever have a grandchild one day, i wouldn't be surprised if he asked me "what was driving like?"

By the time a car like that is widely available we won't have to drive anymore. The car will take us where we need to go, but it won't be controlled by us. We'll just enter a destination into the navigation device and take a nap. The car will wake us up when we arrive. "Driving" your car will be like calling a cab today.

the real drive by wire already exist as our german trainor told us... only on trucks like ACTROS and ATEGO.

another follows you a few feet behind and do exactly what you are doing on a certain delayed time depending on speed and and distance.

it will be a horror seeing a 40 tonner truck on the road without a driver!

i wonder what the highway patrol after a short chase with a busted brake bulb. issue ticket to the Control Module perhaps.

In the future cops won't chase cars. If cops are even on the road and they want to talk to you they'll just turn your car off. I'm thinking OBDIV and beyond.

If your car loses a sensor and starts to pollute the air, for example, the main control module will tell the smog police by satellite transmission.

Your car's control module will charge your credit card every time you exceed the speed limit or run a red light.

You will be notified of any violation by e-mail displayed on your car's HUD and on your wrist-mounted Dingleberry device. Depending on the type and severity of the offense you will be issued a citation or your car may be "turned off" remotely until you get it repaired, pay any fines, or serve a sentence in confinement.

That's why we'll need a car we can just ride in instead of drive. Only daredevils will drive a car.

although it is very simple to turn off the car in cases of thief and violators, the government still doesn't allow it.

they take the consideration of the car being disabled in the middle of a busy highway... chain collision.

instead they have now come up with the new idea:

an artificial robotic hand will come out from the middle of the steering wheel (where your airbag is located now), and slap the violators face repeatedly.

this will give him time to park on the roadside and run.

Check what OBD will be capable of in the future. I'm not making this stuff up.

They won't lock up the steering wheel or anything dangerous like that. Just disable the car by drastically reducing power. It could be done while power steering and power brakes are kept active and it doesn't have to be sudden. I'm not talking about those zappers that fry the car's electronics. This would be done by radio signals sent by the cop car to your car's control module.

It would be much safer than a high-speed chase through the streets. It would be like running out of gas, except safer because you keep power steering and brakes.

If idjits like John "Scary" Kerry and Al "I have a screech" Gore have their ways the cars we drive won't go faster than 30 mph downhill anyway, so it won't matter.

Bitch-slapped by a steering wheel. I like the idea, but people would just wear a helmet while they drove.

yes i know that the E-CALL or TELE-AID got one station on traffic center and another one on the service center.

it is transmitted via GPS antenna too, and spare one hidden on the rear bumper (this is a secret) just in case the other antenna is disabled by accident or the thief himself.

they can locate your car of up to 100 meters accuracy. i believe they can be less than that as what i observe on trip computers.

if airbag is deployed, the E-CALL/TELE-AID button pressed, or the shock sensor gives more than 5G, an emergency signal is sent to both stations.

the hand from the steering wheel was a joke of course, but that is what Claus Trede told me when i ask him about the possibility of stalling it. i assume he means it's not fully approved on certain area yet.

That E-call and Tele-Aid are old stuff. Nothing new. OnStar is even put into Chevrolet pickup trucks. But, communications are not done through the GPS system. GPS is a location system not a communication system. A cell phone is used to call for help after an airbag deploys or to talk to the "traffic center." It forwards your GPS coordinates when it calls. If you crack up outside of a phone cell you're out of luck, even if you have a secret spare GPS antenna in the rear bumper.

Civilian GPS is accurate to within 2-3 meters, I believe. I'm not sure why MB would settle for 100-meter resolution. Onstar can give me realtime turn-by-turn directions to a restaurant. That can't be done with only 100-meter resolution.

Furthermore, the entire GPS system is not always available. Accuracy can suffer as a result.

The US military can commandeer satellites if there is a need.

If you're within a city, coverage will be sporadic because GPS signals don't travel through things (like brick, mortar, metal, or people) and they don't "bounce." The WAAS can add to GPS accuracy within a city but is not available away from population centers. The WAAS triangulates the GPS signal with a ground-based station whose coordinates are known and fixed.

If driving through the mountains, coverage is sporadic due to nearby hills or mountains, canyon walls, trees, and winding roads that constantly expose you to different sectors of the sky. You can lose a GPS signal when the sky is clearly visible to your eyes.

You may be joking about the slapping steering wheel, but I'm not. There should be a "slap" button in the back seat of every taxicab.

yes, you're right. the cellphone sends the SOS

i want to get one of this handy GPS, and get familiar with these stuff.

in your area i think there are at least 5 satellite minimum available at any given time.

Hi Sleepy,
Looks like two sticks that the passenger can help as well ;-)

yeah, ideal for driving school. the passenger can take over while the driver drink coffee.

This is a car that needs that bitch-slap steering wheel. Er, without the steering wheel, that is.